Stupid profit rate question
Sez Max: The Gov would have to organize a competitive bidding system, evaluate contract proposals, monitor contract compliance, enforce contracts, and have substitutes (possibly itself) in the event of non-performance. It ain't like ordering pizza. Taxing is definitely easier. = The gov does all this already, as with military procurement and the more civilian-friendly public private partnerships -- a cornerstone of third way blather, along with the notion that ownership does not matter, because taxation and regulation can achieve better results. So said Deputy PM John Prescott when justifying his u-turn on Britain's Railtrack, which has now been put into administration by the government because it has been an unmitigated disaster. In any case, the way this discussion is being framed is to take the market institutions as given and then simply have the government/state replicate market behaviour, on the assumption that it will act *in the public interest*. Yeah, right. It is precisely this erroneous assumption that led to the discrediting of the UK nationalised industries, where a private sector management model was implemented from the very beginning, down to the need to generate profits as an indication of success. Meanwhile HM Treasury starved industries and services of investment funds and successive governments implemented de facto incomes policies by holding down state sector pay. Hence few tears were shed among a public used to poor service delivered by underpaid and underappreciated civil servants, whose departments/corporations were constantly depicted as crisis-ridden and in need of life support. But the current system in Britain is even worse. The tax/regulation model is delivering only for lame-duck shareholders who constantly get bailed out at the expense of captive users. The illusion that somehow freedom for households to save up to £100 a year by constantly switching energy supplier, for example, ignores the associated costs of administering such a ridiculous system, which is being financed via the diversion of funds essential to infrastructure maintenance and improvement. Taxing might be easier *in the short term*, but the pressures of fiscal crisis still apply. Sooner or later tax breaks and concessions, lobbied for by interests, will dissolve whatever marginal benefits were once gained. And then, only *after* the collapse/bankruptcy of some monopolistic utility (e.g. Enron, Railtrack, NATS), will the state intervene to clean up the mess and shore up a fundamentally bankrupt system. Michael K.
Re: Is harvey pitt letting corporate america off thehook?
Steve, I suspect that many people will not know what this about, but it is important. Corporations are going to be allowed to be even more tricky in their accounting. Investors (mostly small ones) will get fleeced. Enron's will multiply. Free markets uber alles. Steve Diamond wrote: http://www.cfo.com/article/1,4616,0|83|AD|5987,00.html Stephen F. Diamond School of Law Santa Clara University [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Stupid profit rate question
. . . And then, only *after* the collapse/bankruptcy of some monopolistic utility (e.g. Enron, Railtrack, NATS), will the state intervene to clean up the mess and shore up a fundamentally bankrupt system.Michael K. Public ownership and management are more appropriate in some cases than in others. Natural monopolies are a special case where a public role is more salient. So are patents, as I said. I was responding to a general issue of ownership/management v. taxation. MP suggested contracting was an easy alternative, tho he didn't advocate it. I said it isn't easy. The Federal contracting system exists, as you note, but it's a mess, as my post could lead one to infer. You note the Brit problems w/regulation and shared ownership, but of course there have also been problems with privatization and public agencies. The wholly public French health care system evidently infected people with AIDS rather than straighten out their blood storage system, a sort of social-democratic chernobyl. On a more mundane level, LeGrand's The Strategy of Equality talks about problems within the wholly public Brit social welfare institutions. So snap judgements founded on ideology about the mere identity of ownership and management (public or private) are of limited use. But do go on with your bad self. mbs
Stupid profit rate question
Retorts Max: So snap judgements founded on ideology about the mere identity of ownership and management (public or private) are of limited use. But do go on with your bad self. = It is in eliciting these rather more considered ruminations on the problems of redistribution that I have made greater sense of what initially appeared to be your casual, nay, snap judgment re ownership vs. taxation. Contracting certainly isn't easy, unless you, as an officer of the state, are quite happy to assume all the risk and enable your contractor to clean up profits-wise, as with many well-documented cases of PPPs in Britain. It's that ole devil called agency. You've still not addressed the issues of fiscal crisis, tax resistance, regulatory capture and the lobby. Snap judgments founded on presumptions of others' ideology are of similarly limited use. Michael K.
Ramsey Clark to UN
On December 11, 2001 the following letter was sent from former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to the ambassador and foreign minister of each member of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly. International Action Center 39 West 14th St, #206 NY, NY 10011 212-633-6646 fax: 212-633-2889 www.iacenter.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] December 11, 2001 Dear Ambassador, The Security Council must direct the United States that it may not attack Iraq and must cease threatening to do so. Nor can it train, aid, or finance other forces seeking the violent overthrow of the Iraqi government. Any such acts would violate the obligations of nations under the Charter of the United Nations and constitute crimes under international law. U.S. military and economic assaults on Iraq in the past dozen years are a continuing crime against peace and humanity. They violate the Genocide Convention. The Pentagon admits it conducted 110,000 aerial sorties against a defenseless Iraq dropping 88,500 tons of bombs equivalent to 7 1/2 Hiroshima bombs in 42 days from January 17 to February 28, 1991. The bombs targeted every type of structure and facility necessary to support civilian life. Family dwellings, water and food systems and supplies, industry, commerce, business, education, religion all across Iraq were the direct object of U.S. bombs punishing a whole population. More than 150,000 thousands defenseless people died in Iraq as a result of this military assault, which included thousands of individual war crimes. From August 6, 1990 to date the most severe economic sanctions and forced impoverishment have deliberately inflicted hunger, malnourishment, sickness and death generously among the people of Iraq killing and crippling infants, children, the elderly, pregnant women, nursing mothers, persons with chronic illnesses, and emergency medical cases fist and most frequently. More than 1 1/2 million people have died as a direct result of these sanctions. More than half have been children under five years of age. The sanctions, coerced from the Security Council by the U.S., have violated the Genocide Convention because they have deliberately created conditions of life intended to destroy the Iraqi population in whole, or in part, because of the nationality, race, religion and ethnic origin of its people. The sanctions have had their intended effect. Every U.N. agency dealing with food, health and children has confirmed the human horror of the sanctions. They include the FAO, UNICEF, WFP, WHO. The most courageous and honorable of the U.N. employee's directly involved with enforcement of the sanctions and inspections under them have resigned their positions and publicly protested the sanctions and inspections policies. The food for oil program approved only in late 1996, and used thereafter primarily as a devise for delay, frustration and accusation, was initiated only when international protest against the savagery of the sanctions overwhelmed the fear in which Security Council members held the threat of U.S. reprisal if they did not support U.S. policies. The U.S. has bombed Iraq whenever it chose to do so at any time for the past twelve years. Missiles and bombs have targeted Saddam Hussin for assassination. Many hundreds have been killed, including as an illustration of the meaning of such bombing, Leila al Attar, the internationally famous artist, museum director, wife, mother, human being. The sound of U.S. jets over Iraq is omnipresent, keeping constant the terrifying memory of the continuous aerial and missile assault of February-March 1991 which averaged an aerial sortie every 30 seconds. In the face of these staggering crimes against Iraq, the U.S. has conducted a constant campaign of vilification in the international media it controls. While claims Saddam Hussein is the evil it seeks to destroy its broad brush paints all of Iraq as a symbol of evil. The U.S. propaganda is racist, anti Muslim, hate engendering and false. The U.S. has corrupted and seriously compromised the United Nations by appearing to act in its name, tragically diminishing humanities best hope for peace, dignity and decent conditions of life for all by its decade of brutish and criminal assaults on the people of Iraq. Though coerced, the Security Council is complicit in these crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes and genocide because it has at the least allowed its name and moral authority to be usurped by the United States. The United States time and time again has acted on the advice of Plato's Athenian Stranger, who fearing the judgment of history remains anonymous by waging ...war for the sake of peace. Consider how victims of U.S. wars, surrogate and direct, since World War II have fared: Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, the Domenican Republic, the Philippines, Liberia, Cuba, Guatemala, Grenada, Palestine,
RE: Re: Re: Re: Re: Stupid profit rate question
My brother use to work for government lab. They developed some kind of communications technology that was then to be commercialized by one of the big defense companies. DOD instituted a new program allowing the research labs to bid against the defense companies to do the actualy production. My brother's unit successfully bid and got the job. This is when the problems started. The technology was a small piece of a larger unit produced by the defense company. The company began a campaign of villification against the government unit (through Congressional and Pentagon contacts) and also stone-walled on any collaboration that was crucial to make the products work together. They were also many months behind schedule in doing there part of the job while my brother's unit was on schedule and below cost. I see similar things in my area of health research; e.g. our most efficient activities are in-house government production, next is contracting-out where we have direct over-sight, next is cooperative agreements where we play a partnership role with grant-funded research, last is unrestricted grant-funded research. The latter is 80% of the NIH activities because it is claimed that this is the best way to get innovative science done. -Original Message- From: Michael Perelman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 11:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:20588] Re: Re: Re: Re: Stupid profit rate question I was not advocating contracting out. I only mentioned it because Max suggested difficulties of running a production unit. On Tue, Dec 11, 2001 at 10:45:32PM -0500, Max B. Sawicky wrote: 12/11/01 8:43:48 PM, William S. Lear [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tuesday, December 11, 2001 at 18:04:18 (- 0500) Max Sawicky writes: The Gov would have to organize a competitive bidding system, . . . Why have bidding? Why not just set up a public company that hires staff to run things. The board would be publicly accountable. mbs: fine but that's a different animal -- a public enterprise, the same as nationalization. Perelman was talking about contracting out. Perhaps simply owning the intellectual property of the company and having companies freely use it to produce things (with strings, of course) would be the best. No need for contracts, competitive bids. mbs: the intellectual prop is most appropriate for public ownership. the commodity-type manufacture lends itself to contracting, though even so you need a fairly sophisticated arrangement to get the best deal. All the fuss about the vacinnation contracts indicates some of the sort of problems that can come up. Gov wants the cheapest price, but in a decreasing cost context this favors the big boys. Little boys complain, others point out using a sole source has other risks, thin market means few bidders and questions about whether the lowest costs are attained, political interference, etc. etc. play unless you pay us handsome profits? This is where a public company (really, industry) would come in handy. mbs: agreed. even pro-privatization types of the more sophisticated sort say the Gov should always reserve part of production to a public entity that can be ramped up if the contractors screw up. problem here is in a perceived emergency there isn't time to start up a new govt enterprise, especially in an era when ideology says if you can find it in the Yellow Pages, you don't need public employees and agencies. I'm not exaggerating. This is literally a test used in Washington to evaluate the potential for privatization. Talk about the Stone Age. mbs -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Taliban screwed it up?
From: Steve Diamond [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:20580] Taliban screwed it up? Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 16:56:32 -0800 Or they were just called off by Pakistan - how else to explain the relatively orderly retreat from Kabul and the way they were able to escape US and southern alliance troops in Kandahar.the U.S. might try to conclude that it was the Daisy Cutters but the close links between the Taliban, the Pakistani ISI and the Saudis (as evidenced by the extraordinary television interview by the head of Saudi intelligence attempting to distance the Saudi regime from OBL - even at this late date they somehow feel compelled to do that) - those close links indicate that the US is facing off against a widespread disaffection - to say the least - with US power in the world - a disaffection that may have been distorted and misused horribly by OBL and the fundamentalist movement, but that nonetheless exists, both abroad and at home. Stephen F. Diamond School of Law Santa Clara University [EMAIL PROTECTED] I´ve been wondering about stability in the middle east. When the war on Afghanistan began, there were reports of widespread resentment in Muslim countries over the attack, massacres in Nigeria, Musharraf was trying to prop up a house of cards, powerful ISI staff were pro-Taliban and posed a threat to the regime, etc.. All of a sudden, silence... What happened here? Was there an internal crackdown in Pakistan and other countries, or were protests just a fringe movement? Did the U.S. media eventually downplay negative reactions by muslim countries due to U.S. government pressure? -Frank G. _ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
Re: Re: Taliban screwed it up?
My understanding was that the fundamentalists made up only about 15 percent of the Pakistani population, but they had a great deal of influence in the military. There is supposedly a great deal of concern in Pakistan over the bombings, but Musheref still commands considerable respect. I´ve been wondering about stability in the middle east. When the war on Afghanistan began, there were reports of widespread resentment in Muslim countries over the attack, massacres in Nigeria, Musharraf was trying to prop up a house of cards, powerful ISI staff were pro-Taliban and posed a threat to the regime, etc.. All of a sudden, silence... What happened here? Was there an internal crackdown in Pakistan and other countries, or were protests just a fringe movement? Did the U.S. media eventually downplay negative reactions by muslim countries due to U.S. government pressure? -Frank G. _ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
Re: Re: Stupid profit rate question
Max, I never intended to implement contracting out would be easy. You gave a number of examples of government screw-ups. Won't they be almost inevitable so long as the government is permeated with corporate influence? Max B. Sawicky wrote: MP suggested contracting was an easy alternative, tho he didn't advocate it. I said it isn't easy. --- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
Re: Definition of new phase of imperialism / ( relative surplus value again)
Hey good start As to these issues one may say: 1)It may be said that the closer workers are brought together via improved means of communications, and literally a smaller world, the bigger the springboard for cooperation in an ever bigger proletariat. Also The development of machinery through integrating movable and static energy parts dictated by the drive to produce, implies at one extreme a fusion of artificial with human intelligence. this may not make a commodity produce a commodity, but where technology is higher, the relative surplus value might reach new heights. A cybernetic highly socialized worker is happening in the west while horse carts are the trade mark of the east. the rift is too great, so is the wage, and working classes in the west attach their immediate interests to the miserization of the poor in the east. nationalism, which as Balibar said is always tainted with racism rises to the fore, ever serving the interests of capital. 2)that never ceded it is just detente with a deterrent. well it may be argued that it is the overwhelming first strike capacity of the USA that deals that one in. some argued convincingly that the collapse of the USSR was nothing less than losing the capacity to effectively deter against an American first strike. 3) Edward Schaffer's Oil and imperialism sometimes in the fifties talks about this thesis. things can get worst. this leaves the shape of resistance since western left was unable bridge the working class divide. now that workers' pensions and savings are part and parcel of capital they too get fight capital's battle under nationalism. the real qualitative difference is in steeper world working class divisions where the toil of one class is the booty of another. let us not forget that on the human side it is far worst now than any other time and the richer working classes do not budge as always when blood is spilled in the colonies. and upon closer examination the now in vogue suicide attackers cannot be explained outside of this social context. CB: Here's my proposal for defining a qualitatively new phase of imperialism: 1) The scientific and technological revolution especially in transportation and communication machinery has resulted in Marx's cooperation turning into its opposite, being overcome by machinery. The capitalist do not have to group large numbers of workers in large factories to maximize the extraction of relative surplus value( See Marx's discussion of relative surplus value and the factory system in _Capital_ I). This technological development allowed the capitalists to geographically and territorially scatter the points of production., undermining the classic Leninist factory scenario , the workers' direct sensing of their strength in numbers , working class ghettos 2) The military interimperialist rivalry, world wars between imperialists of Lenin's day has been turned into its opposite , a relative military unity and alliance due to the imperialist response to the Soviet Union, and other socialist and nationally liberated countries, i.e. the imperialist hot and cold wars against them. AND the collapse of the Soviet center of that system. 3) The Mark Jones thesis of crisis in production of the strategic resource, oil. __ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com
RE: Taliban screwed it up?
tell me if I'm wrong in my impression that the most important thing that the US did in its war against Afghanistan was to convince (cajole, strong-arm, threaten, bribe) Pakistan to abandon the Taliban. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine -Original Message- From: Sabri Oncu [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 7:59 PM To: PEN-L Subject: [PEN-L:20587] Taliban screwed it up? Steve writes: Or they were just called off by Pakistan - how else to explain the relatively orderly retreat from Kabul and the way they were able to escape US and southern alliance troops in Kandahar. This sounds quite plausible. Take a look at this excerpt from the article below: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed concern that al Qaeda and Taliban leaders might flee into neighboring Pakistan from their besieged Tora Bora mountain cave and tunnel complex. ``It's a very complicated area to try to seal and there's just no way you can put a perfect cork in the bottle,'' he said, noting that U.S. ally Pakistan was trying to shut its porous border. Pakistan said neither bin Laden nor his followers would find sanctuary if they managed to slip across the remote border. Full: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011211/ts/attack_dc_1038.html Sabri Oncu
RE: Re: Is harvey pitt letting corporate america off the hook?
Michael Perelman writes: Steve, I suspect that many people will not know what this about, but it is important. Corporations are going to be allowed to be even more tricky in their accounting. Investors (mostly small ones) will get fleeced. Enron's will multiply. Free markets uber alles. This is free market _rhetoric_ (get the gummint off our backs) über alles, but allowing companies to engage in shady accounting goes against free market principles and is thus likely to hurt free markets in the long run (just as Enron's collapse is screwing up a lot of businesses). In terms of free market principles, shady accounting is like contract-breaking. JD
RE: Re: Taliban screwed it up?
Frank G. writes: I´ve been wondering about stability in the middle east. When the war on Afghanistan began, there were reports of widespread resentment in Muslim countries over the attack, massacres in Nigeria, Musharraf was trying to prop up a house of cards, powerful ISI staff were pro-Taliban and posed a threat to the regime, etc.. All of a sudden, silence... What happened here? Was there an internal crackdown in Pakistan and other countries, or were protests just a fringe movement? Did the U.S. media eventually downplay negative reactions by muslim countries due to U.S. government pressure? part of the answer (in addition to Michael Perelman's answer) appeared in an article I posted to pen-l from the GUARDIAN [UK] yesterday or the day before: a lot of the worst governments -- such as those of Libya and Algeria -- have lined up with Bush as part of the War Against Terrorism (WAT) and of course the War On Evil (WOE). Thus, for example, Algeria (and I would guess Egypt) have a free hand to engage in terroristic tactics against radical Islamists in their countries. I don't know much about Libya, so most of what I said above about that country is based on a conversation I had with a Libyan exile who runs the computer-repair store I go to. Jim D.
RE: RE: Fascism
excellent comments, jim, of course, teh dictionary definitions follow ideological usage, as one might expect especially after reading raymond williams analysis of literature as reflection of class structure and hegemonic values. Of course dictionary definitions reflect ideology, but it's important to know what they are in order to converse with others. It turns out that in this specific case the dictionary definition wasn't that bad. My only rebuttal would be in that class structure and power relations differ in form among cultures and regions. Mao's criticism of marx-engels-lenin class analysis was that it was overly general, whereas empirical studies of microregions and corresponding culural realities showed great variation and unique structures at local levels. Ergo, issues that are more generally Mediterranean in forms of Corporatism, have a wide range of varities, but in general have more in common internally than they have in common with other regional cultural patterns. Constructs of honor, shame, and virginity, for example, have stronger roots in neolithic Mediterranean grain producing and animal husbandry economies than elsewhere, and link well into segmentary lineage systems, such a Pierre Bourdieu found in the Kabiyle, or Philip Saltzman found among Sinai bedouins. The major work on this by Germaine Tillion, Republic of Cousins, remains a classic. I totally agree that the pre- or non-capitalist _status quo_ involved tremendous amounts of heterogeneity of this sort and much of this heterogeneity persists. However, capitalism's global spread has involved a large tendency toward homogenization (as codified, for example, in the IMF's one-size-fits-all policy stance). Further, most of the remaining pre- or non-capitalist world faces a common problem of the clash between the old ways and those of capitalist modernity. Thus there are not just differences but similarities amongst the various right-wing statist responses to that modernity. My arguement is just that varieties of corporate statism that resemble a classic model of economic fascism stripped of nationalist or racialist baggage has a certain epistemology and diffusion among cultures that have a greater propensity towards that type of power structure than among others. But herein lies an important area for political-economic research that might for example, link Frankfurt school Cultural studies to Anthropologists like Stanley Diamond or Melvin [Marvin?] Harris, or even Bourdieu, to form a theory of geohgraphic-cultural predispositions towards certain of elite formations, especially when one views the global prospect from a semi-world systems theory approach using a Murray Edelman Political communications-spectacle-dramaturgical lens. Perhaps I am looking for an etiology of power structures and forms of political drama that resonate more deeply within some cultural constructs than others, Fascism being only one exapmle of such a system and its cultural-geographic areas of diffusion, as well as its historical boundaries. I would emphasize the role of modes of production -- and their incumbent classes -- plus modes of reproduction (families, kinship, etc.) over culture. The latter seems a bit vague to me. But then I'm not an anthropologist. Jim D.
RE: RE: Taliban screwed it up?
classically, the answer is yes no. Various powerful political economic factions in Pakistan helped to create then used the Taliban to extend their influence into Afghanistan, and did so quite successfully. With the exception of several neo-puritanical ethno-religious threads in Pakistani society, the other factions would have no qualms about changing horses to whichever one seems most able to carry Pakistani influence into Afghan political arenas, but it will always be a Pushtun horse. That way, Pakistani nationalists can control and defuse the centripetal forces of Pushtun national aspirations that would calve off all of Northern Pakistan southren Afghanistan into a new Pushtustan. -Original Message- From: Devine, James [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 9:56 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: [PEN-L:20602] RE: Taliban screwed it up? tell me if I'm wrong in my impression that the most important thing that the US did in its war against Afghanistan was to convince (cajole, strong-arm, threaten, bribe) Pakistan to abandon the Taliban. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine -Original Message- From: Sabri Oncu [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 7:59 PM To: PEN-L Subject: [PEN-L:20587] Taliban screwed it up? Steve writes: Or they were just called off by Pakistan - how else to explain the relatively orderly retreat from Kabul and the way they were able to escape US and southern alliance troops in Kandahar. This sounds quite plausible. Take a look at this excerpt from the article below: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed concern that al Qaeda and Taliban leaders might flee into neighboring Pakistan from their besieged Tora Bora mountain cave and tunnel complex. ``It's a very complicated area to try to seal and there's just no way you can put a perfect cork in the bottle,'' he said, noting that U.S. ally Pakistan was trying to shut its porous border. Pakistan said neither bin Laden nor his followers would find sanctuary if they managed to slip across the remote border. Full: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011211/ts/attack_dc_1038.html Sabri Oncu
German Metalworkers Seek 5-7 percent Wage Increase
German Metalworkers Seek 5-7 percent Wage Increase ECONOMIC IMPACT WORRIES RISE OVER EFFECT OF HIGH SETTLEMENTS ON RECOVERY: By HUGH WILLIAMSON Financial Times, Dec 11, 2001 http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id= 011211000887query=German+Metal+Workers Leaders of Germany's powerful IG Metall metalworkers' trade union yesterday recommended a pay rise next year of between 5 and 7 per cent, sparking worries that high wage settlements in coming months may delay the country's economic recovery. ( These worries are silly. More money for workers IS the economic recovery - CB) The recommendation to the union's regional associations was immediately dismissed by Gesamtmetall, the metal industry employers' association, as ignoring economic reality in the face of a slowing economy and prospects of little more than 1 per cent growth next year. The recommendation also signalled trouble for the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, who is relying on an economic recovery - and broad labour movement support - to win national elections next September. Speaking at the union's headquarters in Frankfurt, Klaus Zwickel, IG Metall chairman, argued that a 5-7 per cent increase was clearly payable as company profits had increased sharply in recent years and wages now represented a smaller proportion of metal sector companies' turnover than in the early 1990s. Mr Zwickel demanded a one-year pay agreement - compared with the two- year deal that ends on February 28 2002 - that also includes new pay scales that equalise wages of blue and white collar employees doing similar jobs. The wage negotiations in the metal and electronics industries, due to start in earnest in mid-February with regionally based talks, will set the trend for pay negotiations in the chemical and service sectors, also due in early 2002. IG Metall, which has 2.7m members, is likely to modify its wage claim before tabling its formal demand on January 28. In negotiations in early 2000 the union demanded 5.5 per cent, and settled for 3 per cent in 2000 and 2.1 per cent this year. Initial soundings indicated the union is unlikely to settle for less than 3 per cent, and may mount strikes from early April to achieve this. Mr Zwickel said there was an explosive atmosphere among union members. Economists attacked the union for endangering economic recovery. Klaus Friedrich, Dresdner Bank chief economist, said: Such a recommendation sends the wrong international signal while the economy is in recession. Tougher international competition means companies are unable to pass on high wage increases to consumers via price increases, he added, indicating that job losses may result. He argued that a wage increase of 2 per cent would be non- inflationary, a view shared by Thomas Mayer, Goldman Sachs's senior economist. An agreement aimed at promoting employment would be under 2 per cent, he said, adding that, in his view, productivity would increase by only 1 per cent next year. Other analysts were less pessimistic. Ralph Solveen, Commerzbank senior economist, said he expected a settlement worth 3 per cent. This would not help the economic situation but would not actually hinder a recovery, he said. Jurgen Kromphardt, a member of the government's council of independent economic experts, who has close trade union ties, said a settlement of 3-3.5 per cent would be fair as it reflected forecast inflation and long-term industrial productivity increases of 1.8-1.9 per cent. The IG Metall said it expected up to 2 per cent inflation next year. The moderate metal industry wage agreement in 2000 was in part due to pressure on IG Metall leaders from Mr Schroder. Analysts said yesterday's high recommendation was a signal that union members were unhappy that in the past wage increases had been denied because of wider economic and political considerations. The IG Metall leadership has also expressed irritation over what it sees as the failure of the Social Democrat-led government to stimulate growth and tackle rising unemployment. Mr Schroder has called repeatedly for pay moderation but yesterday refused to intervene directly in wage negotiations, adding, however, that initial (wage) demands are just that, and not the results of pay talks. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-1998 === FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. we believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for
RE: pop quiz in lieu of finals
my guess: Frank Hahn for (1) and Phil Mirowski for (2). Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine -Original Message- From: Ian Murray [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 7:32 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:20584] pop quiz in lieu of finals Who said the following: 1)Economic theorists may have to become as much philosophers as mathematicians. a)Frank Hahn b)Wassily Leontif c)Jack Hirshleifer d)Roger Sugden 2)'[T]he evolution of economics as an academic profession is a case of lock-in comparable to the peacock's tail. Sets of genes producing the beautiful tail in the mail, and making it sexually attractive to the female, are mutually reinforcing, and become selected because of the greater progeny involved. However, there is no useful function performed: no enhancement of fitness in terms of finding food or escaping predators...Just as the beautiful tail evolves with the peacock, economics has evolved an ever more intricate and beautiful mathematical formalism, similarly with no functional advantage for the development for economic policy. a)Geoffrey Hodgson b)Karla Hoff b)Philip Mirowski d)Warren Samuels
RE: RE: RE: Fascism
good points jim, but while I agree about the vagueness of culture as generally used, socio-political categories are even more vague, especially when adhered to on ideological grounds, ergo becoming less rational and a matter of belief i.e. materialism as a belief system, hence an idealist proposition. As well, I disagree about modernization globalization being homogenizing factors any more than pre-modern cultures of poverty had certain similarities on a physical plane, e.g., hunger is hunger. Yet even what is a shared phenomenon such as hunger' is perceived and responded to differently under varying cultural and ecological conditions. Perhaps certain global surfaces appear similar, but to my perception as a world traveller seldom visiting less than 1-4 different countries each year, while living more outside the US than in it, underlying cultural characteristics differ greatly, especially in private life -- de Certeau's practices Lefebvre's rhythms or daily life. -Original Message- From: Devine, James [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 10:50 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: [PEN-L:20605] RE: RE: Fascism excellent comments, jim, of course, teh dictionary definitions follow ideological usage, as one might expect especially after reading raymond williams analysis of literature as reflection of class structure and hegemonic values. Of course dictionary definitions reflect ideology, but it's important to know what they are in order to converse with others. It turns out that in this specific case the dictionary definition wasn't that bad. My only rebuttal would be in that class structure and power relations differ in form among cultures and regions. Mao's criticism of marx-engels-lenin class analysis was that it was overly general, whereas empirical studies of microregions and corresponding culural realities showed great variation and unique structures at local levels. Ergo, issues that are more generally Mediterranean in forms of Corporatism, have a wide range of varities, but in general have more in common internally than they have in common with other regional cultural patterns. Constructs of honor, shame, and virginity, for example, have stronger roots in neolithic Mediterranean grain producing and animal husbandry economies than elsewhere, and link well into segmentary lineage systems, such a Pierre Bourdieu found in the Kabiyle, or Philip Saltzman found among Sinai bedouins. The major work on this by Germaine Tillion, Republic of Cousins, remains a classic. I totally agree that the pre- or non-capitalist _status quo_ involved tremendous amounts of heterogeneity of this sort and much of this heterogeneity persists. However, capitalism's global spread has involved a large tendency toward homogenization (as codified, for example, in the IMF's one-size-fits-all policy stance). Further, most of the remaining pre- or non-capitalist world faces a common problem of the clash between the old ways and those of capitalist modernity. Thus there are not just differences but similarities amongst the various right-wing statist responses to that modernity. My arguement is just that varieties of corporate statism that resemble a classic model of economic fascism stripped of nationalist or racialist baggage has a certain epistemology and diffusion among cultures that have a greater propensity towards that type of power structure than among others. But herein lies an important area for political-economic research that might for example, link Frankfurt school Cultural studies to Anthropologists like Stanley Diamond or Melvin [Marvin?] Harris, or even Bourdieu, to form a theory of geohgraphic-cultural predispositions towards certain of elite formations, especially when one views the global prospect from a semi-world systems theory approach using a Murray Edelman Political communications-spectacle-dramaturgical lens. Perhaps I am looking for an etiology of power structures and forms of political drama that resonate more deeply within some cultural constructs than others, Fascism being only one exapmle of such a system and its cultural-geographic areas of diffusion, as well as its historical boundaries. I would emphasize the role of modes of production -- and their incumbent classes -- plus modes of reproduction (families, kinship, etc.) over culture. The latter seems a bit vague to me. But then I'm not an anthropologist. Jim D.
HUNGER AND POVERTY IN AMERICA
The following article on Hunger and Poverty in America, followed by an accompanying Quotes on Hunger Amidst Plenty, will appear in the Dec. 15, 2001, issue of he Mid-Hudson (NY) Activist Newsletter and Action Calendar. -- HUNGER AND POVERTY IN AMERICA By Jack A. Smith While the Bush administration pursues policies intended to benefit the wealthy, hunger, homelessness, unemployment, poverty and income inequality are swiftly increasing in the United States. Over 23 million Americans received emergency hunger relief from private charities so far this year, two million more than four years ago, because of government cutbacks in social programs under the last several administrations. On any given day, some 300,000 people are homeless in the U.S., and cities such as New York are experiencing marked increases in recent months. Official unemployment has shot up to 8.2 million workers, a jump of 2.6 million in a year. Poverty is deepening throughout the country as poor families are being thrown off welfare upon reaching time limits imposed by the Clinton administration. Income inequality--the difference between the wealthy and everyone else--has reached a 50-year high. These statistics derive from recent reports by government agencies and established private-sector organizations fighting poverty. As expected, African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans suffer disproportionately in all the categories, as do women and children generally. Meanwhile, President Bush-- taking advantage of temporary high approval ratings as he leads the country into several wars on terrorism-- is seeking more tax breaks for the rich, an economic incentive package to help corporations, and the privatization of Social Security, among a host of measures to further widen the gap between the richest 20% of the American people and the remaining 80%. Seldom in the last half-century has the U.S. been so poorly prepared to assist individuals and families struggling with the effects of a recession, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote Nov. 19. Example: the unemployment insurance system, which was established to ease the pain of temporary joblessness, covers less than 40% of the people who are out of work. Example: the food stamp program, which was supposed to slam the door on hunger in the world's greatest nation (and which once served 90% of eligible families), now serves just 60% of the poverty-stricken folks who qualify for help. America's Second Harvest--a network of over 35,000 private food banks, soup kitchens, food pantries and homeless and emergency shelters--reported in December that 9% of the U.S. population, 23.3 million people, turned to its private charities for hunger-relief because government programs were inadequate to keep them fed. It is not known how many millions received food from the 20% of charities not members of the Second Harvest network, which itself acknowledges we are still not meeting the incredible demand. In an exhaustive survey of 35,000 individuals called Hunger in America 2001, the organization says its study punctures the myth that hunger is only a problem of the inner cities, homeless or the chronically unemployed Nearly 40% of households that received assistance from us in 2001 included an adult who was working. Fully 19.7% are seniors [up 16% since 1997]. The facts about children are equally disturbing. More than 9 million children received emergency food assistance this year Women represent two-thirds of adults seeking food assistance Nearly half of all emergency food recipients served by food banks live in rural or suburban areas of the country. Other findings reveal, some 31 million Americans live in households that are food insecure, meaning they are either hungry [about half of them] or at risk of hunger. Over 62% of emergency food recipients have attained high school diplomas or above. About 30% of all client households have been forced to choose between paying for food [or for] medicine in the past 12 months. About 64% of clients or anyone in their household have applied for -- and 29.8% are currently receiving -- food stamps, indicating that even those able to penetrate the bureaucratic keep out signs surrounding the food program need additional nutrition from charities. And the worst part of all is that many private food kitchens -- often the meal of last resort -- report not having enough food to go around. In New York City, for instance, the New York Coalition Against Hunger is now turning away 30% of people showing up for food. The coalition also noted in November that hunger in the city has jumped considerably since the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center because of all the additional jobless workers. Homelessness is hunger's handmaiden. According to the Coalition for the Homeless last month, the number of children and adults populating New York City shelters has
RE: RE: pop quiz in lieu of finals
How do you know Karla Hoff? She's a nearly-new assistant prof at U-Md. Does she have some rep I didn't know about? (I knew she was a Stiglitz student.) mbs 2)'[T]he evolution of economics as an academic profession is a case of lock-in comparable to the peacock's tail. Sets of genes producing the . . . a)Geoffrey Hodgson b)Karla Hoff b)Philip Mirowski d)Warren Samuels
RE: Re: Re: Stupid profit rate question
Sorry if I misinterpreted. I agree that corporate influence is an eternal problem, but it is the least interesting one analytically. Even if without any such influence, there is an intrinsic problem of contracting in some areas simply because running a contract system has costs, both government and vendors are self-interested, and some public services are too complicated or too risky for contracting to be feasible. You could have the same sort of problems if a socialist Gov was dealing with an independent cooperative and nobody except the Gov owned capital. mbs Max, I never intended to implement contracting out would be easy. You gave a number of examples of government screw-ups. Won't they be almost inevitable so long as the government is permeated with corporate influence? Max B. Sawicky wrote: MP suggested contracting was an easy alternative, tho he didn't advocate it. I said it isn't easy. --- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
RE: RE: RE: Fascism
Jamil writes: As well, I disagree about modernization globalization being homogenizing factors any more than pre-modern cultures of poverty had certain similarities on a physical plane, e.g., hunger is hunger. Yet even what is a shared phenomenon such as hunger' is perceived and responded to differently under varying cultural and ecological conditions. No doubt there are many significant differences. Here is another example: Once I had spent two weeks in an Inuit village in Canada, and one story I heard from the natives of the village was that if a friend decides to commit suicide, as an Inuit it is your responsibility assist him/her. I also had lived for many months in a Turkish village and know from my participation in their daily lives that their perception and response to such an event would be the exact opposite. On the other hand, there are other examples where similarities, despite many significant cultural differences, are mind boggling. If an economic meltdown similar to the one below happens in Turkey, wouldn't it be easy for me to replace Buenos Aires with Istanbul, Argentine flags and national anthem with Turkish flags and national anthem, Cavallo with Dervis, so forth in the article below, and after minor modifications, send it around as a news piece from Turkey? Best, Sabri Oncu + Wednesday December 12 1:56 PM ET Argentina Close to General Strike By TONY SMITH, AP Business Writer BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - With recession-plagued Argentina hours away from a general strike, angry shopkeepers and homeowners marched through Buenos Aires Wednesday, haranguing the government with firecrackers, drumbeats and the rattle of pots and pans. Several protests sprang up around the city in a sign of growing discontent over how President Fernando de la Rua and Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo are handling the crisis that has brought South America's second-largest economy to its knees. In its fourth straight year of recession and struggling to make payments on $132 billion of debt, Argentina is on the brink of economic meltdown. Unemployment is rising, confidence has slumped and the government has partially frozen bank accounts to prop up the banking system. More marches were expected through the day Wednesday, ahead of a 24-hour national stoppage called for Thursday by public sector workers. Unions are demanding ``free access for workers to their salaries.'' Under the government bank freeze, Argentines may only withdraw up to $1,000 cash a month - all other payments must be made by check, transfer or debit or credit cards. The first protests Wednesday started on the Diagonal Norte, a main avenue. A small but vocal group representing shopkeepers and small businesses marched to the Casa Rosada government house, banging drums, setting off firecrackers, waving Argentine flags and singing the national anthem. ``This economic model is finished,'' said Vicente Lourenzo, vice president of a national association of small businesses, joining other snappily dressed protesters on the back of an old truck leading a caravan of vans, cars and taxis. ``We need to rebuild the economy and adopt a floating currency to be competitive,'' he said. Argentina's peso currency has been fixed since 1991 at one-to-one parity with the dollar. That brought price stability but some say it has since helped make Argentina's economy unable to compete with other countries. As the caravan snaked down the avenue, it crossed with another drum-beating protest, about 100 homeowners protesting spiraling loan payments to a local bank. Despite the fiesta-like drumbeats, the mood was grim. ``What is happening here is dangerous, not just for Argentina, but for all Latin America,'' said Graciela Hahn, 45, a former pastry shop owner from Buenos Aires province. She said her mortgage payments to Banco Hipotecario, a home loans bank, had increased in recent years from $300 to $980. ``When I was working, I could afford to pay, but now, I had to close the store,'' she said. ``I have no job, no shop, how can I pay? We still have to eat.'' Arriving at the bank's headquarters in the heart of Buenos Aires' financial district, the protesters found the metal doors locked shut. So they pasted posters saying ``we've been cheated'' on the walls and entertained passing crowds with drum music. The respected daily La Nacion reported Wednesday that the government was considering declaring Thursday's strike - called by all three of Argentina's main unions - illegal. The paper quoted government spokesman Juan Pablo Baylac as saying the strike was ``part of a political campaign to undermine the credibility of the democratic system and respect for the institutions.'' But Julio Piumato, a leader of the General Confederation of Labor, or CGT, shot back. ``It's stupid to declare the strike illegal,'' he told La Nacion. ``What is illegal are the unconstitutional decrees that freeze the bank accounts and lower wages.'' ``Of
RE: RE: Re: Re: Stupid profit rate question
I agree from my experience. People may or may not be aware that Bush's head of OMB, Mitchell Daniels, is aggressively promoting increased levels of contracting out, including substituting contracted out professionals to replace government career individuals. -Original Message- From: Max Sawicky [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 3:38 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:20611] RE: Re: Re: Stupid profit rate question Sorry if I misinterpreted. I agree that corporate influence is an eternal problem, but it is the least interesting one analytically. Even if without any such influence, there is an intrinsic problem of contracting in some areas simply because running a contract system has costs, both government and vendors are self-interested, and some public services are too complicated or too risky for contracting to be feasible. You could have the same sort of problems if a socialist Gov was dealing with an independent cooperative and nobody except the Gov owned capital. mbs Max, I never intended to implement contracting out would be easy. You gave a number of examples of government screw-ups. Won't they be almost inevitable so long as the government is permeated with corporate influence? Max B. Sawicky wrote: MP suggested contracting was an easy alternative, tho he didn't advocate it. I said it isn't easy. --- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
RE: Relative and absolute surplus value
[this is an old one. I just got the time to respond.] [Charles Brown]: I see what you mean. The increased overtime that Ford or Chrysler , that has been implemented for a number of years would not necessarily raise the aggregate average rate of profit for the capitalist class as a whole. In Marx's discussion of absolute surplus value, I took him to be discussing individual capitalists , not the capitalist class as a whole. The only way volume I of CAPITAL (after chapter 3) makes sense to me is to interpret Marx as talking about capitalism as a whole, with the abstract capitalist fighting against abstract workers (abstracting from the specific characteristics of individual capitalists and individual workers). He does this by discussing the average capitalist and the average worker, which he sees as represented by the specific case of the 19th century British cotton textile industry. As a first approximation, however, it makes sense to say that any individual capitalist's efforts to raise his or her work-force's labor-effort relative to their wages and benefits leads to an increase in the aggregate rate of surplus-value. He brings in differences amongst and relations between different industries and firms in volumes II and III. Jim Devine
Re: RE: RE: pop quiz in lieu of finals
- Original Message - From: Max Sawicky [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 12:40 PM Subject: [PEN-L:20612] RE: RE: pop quiz in lieu of finals How do you know Karla Hoff? She's a nearly-new assistant prof at U-Md. Does she have some rep I didn't know about? (I knew she was a Stiglitz student.) mbs == Um, I read..Never said I knew her. Ian
Re: RE: pop quiz in lieu of finals
- Original Message - From: Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 10:53 AM Subject: [PEN-L:20609] RE: pop quiz in lieu of finals my guess: Frank Hahn for (1) and Phil Mirowski for (2). [1] is d)Roger Sugden [2] is a)Geoffrey Hodgson Ian
BLS Daily Report
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2001: RELEASED TODAY: The U.S. Import Price Index decreased 1.6 percent in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. The decline followed a 2.4 percent decrease in October and reflected continuing drops in both petroleum and nonpetroleum prices. The Export Price Index also continued to fall in November, down 0.4 percent after falling 0.7 percent in October. President Bush announces his intention to nominate economist Kathleen Utgoff, a pension official in the Reagan administration, to serve as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Utgoff will be nominated to replace former BLS Commissioner Katharine Abraham, who left the agency in mid-October after serving for 8 years. Abraham recently accepted an appointment as professor of survey methodology and affiliate professor of economics at the University of Maryland. Utgoff was a senior economist at President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers from 1983 until 1985. She was an economist at the Center for Naval Analyses from 1974 until 1983, the White House said. Utgoff holds an undergraduate degree from California State University at Northridge, and a Ph.D from the University of California at Los Angeles. The appointment requires Senate confirmation (Daily Labor Report, page A-10). The U.S. deficit in the broadest measure of foreign trade fell to $94.98 billion in the July-September quarter, the smallest in nearly 2 years, reflecting an American economy in recession and huge foreign insurance payments from the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Commerce Department says the deficit in the current account dropped by 11.7 percent from an April-June imbalance of $107.58 billion. That was the smallest trade gap since a deficit of $92.47 billion in the final quarter of 1999. The current account is considered the broadest measure of trade because it covers not only the flow of goods and services across borders but also the flow of investments and items such as foreign aid (Martin Crutsinger, Associated Press, http://www.nypost.com/apstories/business/V7520.htm). The relation between family circumstances and a child's academic proficiency is well-known, but policymakers usually assume that if all children can be held to the same standards the achievement gap between rich and poor will eventually disappear. We pay too little attention to how social and economic forces themselves influence learning, says Richard Rothstein in The New York Times (page A25). Unemployment has now risen to 5.7 percent, up from less than 4 percent in October 2000. The biggest downturns have been in low-wage industries, like hotels and restaurants. More job losses are expected. If the past is any guide, rising unemployment will cause children's school performance to decline, but commentators will attribute the drop entirely to poor teachers low standards, or overcrowded schools, Rothstein contends. U.S. wholesale inventories fell in October by the largest amount in 19 years. Sales declined more, lengthening the time it may take for businesses to work off excess stockpiles and climb out of the first recession since 1991. The 1 percent drop in inventories to $294.2 billion followed a 0.4 percent decrease in September, the Commerce Department says. Sales fell 1.4 percent, after falling 1.2 percent a month earlier. We haven't seen that light shining at the end of the tunnel yet, says Tim Rogers, chief economist at Briefing.com in Boston. It's going to be a very slow recovery, as businesses continue to cut costs and hesitate to invest (Bloomberg News, The Boston Globe). In the face of plunging sales, U.S. wholesalers cut their inventories in October at the fastest pace since at least 1992, a government report on Tuesday shows (Reuters, Chicago Tribune). Retailers reported sales late week that were 0.4 percent lower than the week before but a respectable 3 percent greater than the same week a year ago, according to a national index released yesterday. The week started out quiet, but then came cold weekend weather that sent consumers shopping for sweaters, coats, and other seasonal items. If the weekend performance were to continue, sales could exceed expectations, said Mike Niemira, an economist at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. But Niemira has lowered those expectations in the past month, from a 4 percent increase in sales to a 1.5 percent increase. The question is, do the numbers fall, stabilize or pick up from here, the New York-based analyst said (The Washington Post, page E3). DUE OUT TOMORROW: Producer Price Indexes, November 2001 application/ms-tnef
imperialism and the working class.
[was: RE: [PEN-L:20051] Re: RE: Re: Relative and absolute surplus value] Greg Schofield writes: The other important matter is to do with productive forces when you [that is, when I] say: Even if the best practice equipment isn't introduced into a low-wage area, introducing an antiquated technique there will in many cases raise labor productivity there. In classic imperialism where the export of capital lead to productivity increases in unnderdeveloped economies, there was an absolute increase of productivity as productivity in the homeland state was well protected and the cheap-labour rarely came into anything like direct competition with homeland labour. right. My impression is that the kind of investment that Lenin, Luxemburg, et al. were describing was in infrastructure (railroads, etc.) or was purely financial. The home countries mostly had well-protected markets. I spoke about the destruction of productive powers becuase the two labour sources have come more or less into direct competition. Hence a shift from best practice in a homeland state generally means introducing more aniquated techniques in the new place. In a global context the productive powers are reduced. but the power to produce surplus-value is raised, cet. par. In a sense the defeat of the working class in the old homelands was achieved by this shift whereby cheap labour elsewhere became direct competitors. The effect is to also cheapen labour in this old homelands and thus slow the pressure of introducing more advanced forms of dead labour there also. right, but the movement to invest internationally, and to set up competition between the new industries and the old, was partly a result of the defeat of the working-class in the old homelands. In the U.S., to choose a country at random, the 1950s exclusion of militants and leftists from the labor movement undermined any ability of the latter to embrace working-class internationalism. Instead, the AFL-CIA promoted narrow anti-communist unionism around the world. This shift which has become a pronounced tendency and we are in a bind with class struggle, the international aspects of which are no-where developed enough to overcome this type of division. Hence the need to provide some political framework for political struggle on economic issues. I cannot see any quick cures but there are historical and material reasons why we have to break with the past and explore new regions. right. Jim Devine
Peasants to bear brunt of open grain market
Peasants to bear brunt of open grain market SCMP RAY CHEUNG Tough business: Zhang Zhonghuang faces a new age of competition. SCMP photo Every day, Shandong farmer Zhang Zhonghuang brings the wheat from Liu village to a local grain wholesale market, 30km south of Jining. Mr Zhang sells his village's wheat at 60 fen (56 HK cents) per 500g, making a profit of 10 fen. The sale, after tax, fertiliser, seed, and water, allows the 30 year-old farmer with two children to earn about 4,000 yuan (HK$3,773) a year. The grain business is tough, he said. And it is about to become even tougher. On November 10, half a world away in Doha, Qatar, China finally joined the World Trade Organisation. As part of its accession to the WTO, China will open up its agricultural market to foreign imports, particularly for grain. For wheat, maize and soyabeans, China will reduce tariffs from an average 22 per cent to 17.5 per cent and raise imports quotas by up to 20 million tonnes each year. This will bring trouble for 70 per cent of China's 600 million farmers, who grow grain mostly in the North China Plain region above the Yellow River and northeastern China. Grain produced by farmers in the US, Canada, Australia, and the European Union will enter the Chinese market. With their huge plots of land and use of modern machines, these farmers can produce wheat, maize and soyabeans at costs up to 50 per cent lower than the Chinese. The US is expected to make the biggest gain among foreign grain producers. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that by 2005 its grain exports to China will rise by US$1.6 billion (HK$12.48 billion) a year, with wheat reaching US$727 million. Mr Zhang will soon face two options - to leave the farm or grow another crop. The semi-official Chinese News Service reported that China expected to lose 12 million farming jobs through the WTO's agricultural import policy. That will add to an estimated 150 million rural migrants. To absorb the millions of unemployed, Beijing is transforming villages into urban industrial cities through heavy investment in infrastructure. Li Tie, director-general of the Centre for Town Reform and Development, said: We are seeking to create new cities in rural areas which will stimulate the manufacturing industry and increase demand for urban services, bringing new jobs to rural people. The rural-urban metamorphosis will take years and require massive skills training for farmers. It will also depend on a sizeable rise in China's manufacturing exports, which is unlikely during the current global economic slowdown. Despite these challenges, the World Bank's China Agriculture Section Co-ordinator, Juergen Voegle, is optimistic. The impact from the WTO on China's farmers is overestimated. The WTO will simply push out the marginal and less competitive areas, he said. One development is that grain farmers may now plant more profitable crops such as vegetables. Many of China's grain farmers have been part of the Government's food security policy of achieving 95 per cent self-sufficiency in grain supplies. The policy, the product of the great famines in the 1960s, heavily subsidises farmers to grow more grain and imposes tariff on imports. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated that by 1999 China had more than 450 million tonnes of stockpiled grain - equivalent to 97 per cent of the total annual demand for that year. While this has been good for the nation, it is devastating for farmers' incomes. The People's Daily reported rural per capita incomes from 1998 to last year grew by only 91 yuan to 2,253 yuan, while urban residents' per capita income grew by 848 yuan to 6,316 yuan. The Government's policy is now moving towards market forces . . . Farmers are not stupid, if they know they are not making money, they will then change their crops, said Dr Huang Jikuan, director and professor at the Chinese Academy of Science's Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy. Only time will tell how joining the WTO will affect China's countryside. One certainty is that as China enters another era of change, farmers including Mr Zhang will be asked to make the largest sacrifices. Stephen Philion Lecturer/PhD Candidate Department of Sociology 2424 Maile Way Social Sciences Bldg. # 247 Honolulu, HI 96822
RE: RE: RE: RE: Fascism
Yes, Sabri, there are as many similarities as differences among economic actors in a zeitgeist situation. Inner perceptions and active responses among individuals and families may differ, in line with cultural survival strategies having deep structure, while surface institutional responses may seem parallel between Turkey Argentina. More later. jb -Original Message- From: Sabri Oncu [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 12:48 PM To: PEN-L Subject: [PEN-L:20613] RE: RE: RE: Fascism Jamil writes: As well, I disagree about modernization globalization being homogenizing factors any more than pre-modern cultures of poverty had certain similarities on a physical plane, e.g., hunger is hunger. Yet even what is a shared phenomenon such as hunger' is perceived and responded to differently under varying cultural and ecological conditions. No doubt there are many significant differences. Here is another example: Once I had spent two weeks in an Inuit village in Canada, and one story I heard from the natives of the village was that if a friend decides to commit suicide, as an Inuit it is your responsibility assist him/her. I also had lived for many months in a Turkish village and know from my participation in their daily lives that their perception and response to such an event would be the exact opposite. On the other hand, there are other examples where similarities, despite many significant cultural differences, are mind boggling. If an economic meltdown similar to the one below happens in Turkey, wouldn't it be easy for me to replace Buenos Aires with Istanbul, Argentine flags and national anthem with Turkish flags and national anthem, Cavallo with Dervis, so forth in the article below, and after minor modifications, send it around as a news piece from Turkey? Best, Sabri Oncu + Wednesday December 12 1:56 PM ET Argentina Close to General Strike By TONY SMITH, AP Business Writer BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - With recession-plagued Argentina hours away from a general strike, angry shopkeepers and homeowners marched through Buenos Aires Wednesday, haranguing the government with firecrackers, drumbeats and the rattle of pots and pans. Several protests sprang up around the city in a sign of growing discontent over how President Fernando de la Rua and Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo are handling the crisis that has brought South America's second-largest economy to its knees. In its fourth straight year of recession and struggling to make payments on $132 billion of debt, Argentina is on the brink of economic meltdown. Unemployment is rising, confidence has slumped and the government has partially frozen bank accounts to prop up the banking system. More marches were expected through the day Wednesday, ahead of a 24-hour national stoppage called for Thursday by public sector workers. Unions are demanding ``free access for workers to their salaries.'' Under the government bank freeze, Argentines may only withdraw up to $1,000 cash a month - all other payments must be made by check, transfer or debit or credit cards. The first protests Wednesday started on the Diagonal Norte, a main avenue. A small but vocal group representing shopkeepers and small businesses marched to the Casa Rosada government house, banging drums, setting off firecrackers, waving Argentine flags and singing the national anthem. ``This economic model is finished,'' said Vicente Lourenzo, vice president of a national association of small businesses, joining other snappily dressed protesters on the back of an old truck leading a caravan of vans, cars and taxis. ``We need to rebuild the economy and adopt a floating currency to be competitive,'' he said. Argentina's peso currency has been fixed since 1991 at one-to-one parity with the dollar. That brought price stability but some say it has since helped make Argentina's economy unable to compete with other countries. As the caravan snaked down the avenue, it crossed with another drum-beating protest, about 100 homeowners protesting spiraling loan payments to a local bank. Despite the fiesta-like drumbeats, the mood was grim. ``What is happening here is dangerous, not just for Argentina, but for all Latin America,'' said Graciela Hahn, 45, a former pastry shop owner from Buenos Aires province. She said her mortgage payments to Banco Hipotecario, a home loans bank, had increased in recent years from $300 to $980. ``When I was working, I could afford to pay, but now, I had to close the store,'' she said. ``I have no job, no shop, how can I pay? We still have to eat.'' Arriving at the bank's headquarters in the heart of Buenos Aires' financial district, the protesters found the metal doors locked shut. So they pasted posters saying ``we've been cheated'' on the walls and entertained passing crowds with drum music. The respected daily La Nacion reported Wednesday that the government was considering declaring Thursday's strike -
Re: RE: RE: Fascism
Devine, James wrote: I would emphasize the role of modes of production -- and their incumbent classes -- plus modes of reproduction (families, kinship, etc.) over culture. The latter seems a bit vague to me. But then I'm not an anthropologist. Culture is a word in respect to which the dictionary can give little help (though it is lots of fun to see the dictionary makers try hard). So one has to derive its meaning from context each time one encounters it. My tendency is to understand it in terms of the organization of daily life. I generate the following example off the top of my head. That we (mostly) work by the clock rather than the sun stems from the capitalist mode of production. But our culture determines how we divide up our time outside work. Some cultures encourage large breadfasts, others encourage grabbing breakfast on the run if at all. And so forth. Capitalism as a mode of production at one time allowed, perhaps even strongly encouraged, the existence of neighborhood bars, but such bars were a cultural institution, and made possible or encouraged different sorts of personal and social relations. And so forth. Capitalism (the mode of production) made _possible_ the existence of neighborhood bars, which also (probably) have some historical link to earlier inns etc, but one could not understand the institution simply by locating it into a mode of production. Carrol
Chinese manufacturing bargains
Henry Liu sent notice of this fascinating opportunity to pkt. Henry C.K. Liu [EMAIL PROTECTED] This e-mail just came in this morning - an example of the living reality of free trade! Shoes exprting from China at $0.70 a pair will sell in US stores for $35 a pair or more. Subject: 53 Pairs of Stock Shoes Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 22:56:42 +0800 From: humanlong [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Dear Sir, Madam, Now, We have a huge stocks of approximate 53 pairs of shoes, include tennis shoes, sport shoes, children shoes, flying shoes, etc. We want to clear these stocks, the minimum FOB price will be only USD 0.70 a pair, and you may discuss these prices with us if your purchase quantity is big. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are interest in these stocks, we will send you photos and details. Thank you and best regards ! Sincerely Mr. Long Tan ( Satrap ) GUILIN TEXTILES IMPORT EXPORT CORP. Address: No. 229 Rongshan Road, Lingui, Guilin, China Tel: +86-773-5592687 Fax: +86-773-5592687 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Postalcode: 541100 -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
Theory of Free Trade
Robert Vienneau sent this to pkt. It relates to the pen-l project. Subject: Free Trade Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 16:41:37 -0500 From: Robert Vienneau [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1.0 INTRODUCTION I doubt anybody here will be too excited by this. But here's a numeric example illustrating one aspect of Steedman et. al.'s 1970s critique of HOS theory. Steve Keen has a slide show on his Debunking Economics web page that you might like better. It's more late-Robinson-historical- time and less Sraffa. Why are tariffs, protectionism, etc., bad ideas? A widespread answer draws on the theory of comparative advantage. This long post demonstrates this argument is logically invalid when applied to an economy with produced capital goods and a positive interest rate. This demonstration is made by means of a numerical example illustrating the model in Metcalfe and Steedman (1974). That is, it has been known for over a quarter of a century that the theory of comparative advantage does not justify a lack of tariffs. It has been known - but ignored. 2.0 DATA ON TECHNOLOGY Consider a very simple economy that produces two goods, corn and ale, from inputs of labor, land, and produced corn and ale. Corn and ale are both consumption and capital goods. All production processes in this example require a year to complete. Likewise, all production processes exhibit constant returns to scale. One process is known for producing ale, and two processes are known for producing corn. These processes are shown in Table 1. TABLE 1: INPUTS REQUIRED PER (GROSS) UNIT OUTPUT ALE INDUSTRY CORN INDUSTRY INPUTS PROCESS A PROCESS B Ale 0 Barrels 1 Barrel1/2 Barrel Corn 1/8 Bushel 0 Bushels0 Bushels Labor1 Person-Year4 Person-Years 7 Person-Years Land 9/8 Acre 5/6 Acre 1 Acre OUTPUT 1 Barrel 1 Bushel 1 Bushel Assume that endowments of labor and land are given. In particular, this economy has access to 320 person-years of labor and 140 acres of (homogeneous) land. In short, this economy uses two primary factors, labor and land, to produce a net output of two consumption goods, corn and ale. This example differs from misleading introductory textbook models of comparative advantage in that the use of produced capital goods is shown explicitly. 3.0 PRODUCTION POSSIBILITIES FRONTIER The argument is based on an analysis of long run equilibria, as is the case with usual misleading and invalid textbook expositions. Since the endowments of primary inputs are fixed, long run equilibria are stationary equilibria. The ale-producing process and at least one of the corn-producing processes will be used in a long run equilibrium. A technique is defined to consist of the ale-producing process and one of the corn-producing processes. Call the technique utilizing the first corn-producing process alpha. Call the other technique beta. Figure 1 shows possible efficient long run equilibria for this numeric example. The alpha technique is used along the frontier between the corn axis and point a. Labor is a binding contraint on output up to point a. Less land is employed here than exists; hence land services will be free for this portion of the production possibilities frontier. Both land and labor are binding constraints at point a, and the alpha technique is used. If the alpha technique were used to produce a net output of more than 20 barrels ale, land would be a binding contraint and labor services would be free. However, more corn can be produced between a and b, for a given net output of ale, by using a linear combination of the two techniques between points a and b. The beta technique is exclusively used at point b, and both land and labor are binding constraints. Land is a binding constraint, and labor is free, for the remaining portion of the frontier. /|\ | 56 + | . 50 + a | . | . | . Net | . Output | . Corn | . (Bushels) | . | . 20 + b |. | . | . |. | . +-+-+---+--- 2080 105 Net Output Ale (Barrels) FIGURE 1: PRODUCTION POSSIBILITIES FRONTIER The portion of the frontier between points a and b, inclusive, is the focus of the remainder of
Enron
I just read on another web site that Ken Lay is an economist. Does anybody know who his teachers were, where he went to school etc? Ian
Re: Enron
Maybe we could open an economists' hall of shame. Portugal's Salazar was an economist; we have Phil Gramm and Dick Army. Les Aspin began pretty well, but then. On Wed, Dec 12, 2001 at 07:50:54PM -0800, Ian Murray wrote: I just read on another web site that Ken Lay is an economist. Does anybody know who his teachers were, where he went to school etc? Ian -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WEF call to action
Consider me as one of the endorsers as well. Sabri +++ CALL FOR AN ANTI-CAPITALIST CONVERGENCE AGAINST THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM IN NEW YORK CITY (JANUARY 31- FEBRUARY 4) JOIN US AS NEW YORKERS STRIKE BACK AGAINST CORPORATE TERROR For years now, the CEOs of major corporations, hundreds of top international government officials and just plain rich people - from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton - have been meeting every year in Davos, Switzerland. This is where the real rulers of the world give the politicians their marching orders. This is where the schemes that lead to atrocities like GATT and the WTO are actually hatched. And this year, the dining club for the world ruling class will be held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The WEF is moving here because they were effectively chased out of Switzerland by a concerted campaign of direct action. They think that here in New York we're shell-shocked, punch-drunk, and maybe we are but - whaddya fuckin' kiddin' me? This is a provocation. While thousands of New Yorkers are still burying their dead, trying to patch together shattered lives, and desperately trying to see how they can continue to pay insanely high New York City rents after being laid off from their jobs, the richest and most powerful men on earth have decided to come and party on the wreckage - to celebrate, no doubt, the billions of dollars of taxpayer money they've just been handed by their respective governments and explore new opportunities to profiteer from permanent global warfare. Do they think we have no pride? No self-respect? That we're just going to sit back and let this happen? As our heroic firefighters have shown us, the moratorium on direct action in New York is over. We are calling for for a joyous, creative resistance to the WEF's stifling grey culture of corporate conformity; actions whose diversity of tactics will reflect the rich diversity of our city's communities. We are calling for actions based on principles of non-hierarchy, passionate opposition to patriarchy, white supremacy, and rule-by-elite, and the vision of a world in which no one has to live in fear or daily terror. We are calling for a world in which states and their wars, the economic violence and insecurity promulgated by their corporate overlords, the hideous legacy of 500 years of colonialism and racism, and the violence and intolerance of every kind of crusader and religious fanatic will finally be banished from this earth. It's not a pipe dream. Nothing is impossible if we refuse to live in fear. WOULD YOU CARE TO JOIN US IN A SOCIAL REVOLUTION? RSVP Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York City January 31-February 4 ENDORSERS Society for Creative Anarchism (Williamsburg, Virginia) Zek Liberation Collective (Washington, District of Columbia) Infoshop.org (Cyberspace) flag.blackened.net (Cyberspace) Arthur J. Miller, Bayou La Rose Tension Collective (New Orleans, Louisiana) Words Are Not Enough (Washington, District of Columbia) R Stockwell, IWW, IU 610 White Pines Affinity Group (Albany, New York) Instant Antiwar Action Group (Vermont / [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Aron Pieman Kay - Global Pastry Uprising (Rainbow Affinity Group) CrimethInc. Special Forces NOLA Anarchy (New Orleans, Louisiana) Kevin Keating, Mission Yuppie Eradication Project (San Francisco, California) Tute Nere Collective (Washington, District of Columbia) we do not exist (n'existons pas) Starhawk Northwest Anarchist Prisoner Support Network Free and Critter Legal Defense Committee Cascadia Media Collective le Sous-sol Collective (Eugene, Oregon) Student Peace Action Network (SPAN) Red And Black Flag Collective (Montreal) Black Touta (Toronto, Ontario) Anti-Capitalist Convergence Philippines Chicago Direct Action Network Chicago Anti-Capitalist Convergence Blue Ridge Earth First! Urban Guerrilla Division, Earth Liberation Front Malachy Kilbride Colorado Anarchist Network (CAN-Denver, Ft Collins, Boulder- wide) Redneck Liberation Army (Richmond, Virginia) New York City Direct Action Network Paul Krassner (the Realist) Stanley Aronowitz (CUNY) Doug Henwood (Left Business Observer) Chumbawamba The transnational corporations observatory (France)
Re: Re: Enron
I believe Ken Lay has a Ph. D. in economics but don't know where he went to school. Wasn't Senator Douglas the Douglas in the Cobb-Douglas production function? Gene Coyle Michael Perelman wrote: Maybe we could open an economists' hall of shame. Portugal's Salazar was an economist; we have Phil Gramm and Dick Army. Les Aspin began pretty well, but then. On Wed, Dec 12, 2001 at 07:50:54PM -0800, Ian Murray wrote: I just read on another web site that Ken Lay is an economist. Does anybody know who his teachers were, where he went to school etc? Ian -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Re: Re: Enron
Paul Douglas was a Univ. of Chicago economist, who became an Alderman in Chi. Daley hated him so got him to run for the Senate because he was sure to loose, except that he did not. On Wed, Dec 12, 2001 at 09:02:32PM -0800, Eugene Coyle wrote: I believe Ken Lay has a Ph. D. in economics but don't know where he went to school. Wasn't Senator Douglas the Douglas in the Cobb-Douglas production function? Gene Coyle Michael Perelman wrote: Maybe we could open an economists' hall of shame. Portugal's Salazar was an economist; we have Phil Gramm and Dick Army. Les Aspin began pretty well, but then. On Wed, Dec 12, 2001 at 07:50:54PM -0800, Ian Murray wrote: I just read on another web site that Ken Lay is an economist. Does anybody know who his teachers were, where he went to school etc? Ian -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phil Mirowski
I regard Phil Mirowski as one of the most creative economists in the world outside of pen-l. I am waiting for his new book, Machine Dreams, to arrive in the mail. Here is a new article by him http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_12/mirowski/index.html I have not had time to read it, but if it is up to is usual standards, it should be very good. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Police on riot alert for EU summit
I endorse this one too. Not the police, of course, the protestors. Sabri +++ THURSDAY DECEMBER 13 2001, THE TIMES Brussels police put on riot alert for EU summit BY MARTIN FLETCHER, EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT BELGIAN police are braced for the arrival of the tens of thousands of anti-globalisation protesters expected to arrive in Brussels today for the European Union summit. As many as 4,000 police, backed by water cannon and riot squads, will protect the EUs Presidents and Prime Ministers as they meet at the royal palace of Laeken on the citys northern edge. They are sharing intelligence with other EU forces and potential troublemakers will be stopped at checkpoints on the French, Dutch and German borders. Belgian police arrested 22 people on the Dutch border yesterday. They were carrying knives, gas masks and scanners to eavesdrop on police frequencies and were sent back to The Netherlands. Hospitals and firefighters have been put on alert. Magistrates and state prosecutors will be on 24-hour duty. F16 fighters and six helicopters will patrol the skies over Brussels to prevent any September 11-style terrorist attack. The police have also told residents to move their cars off the streets and to hide dustbins, flower pots and any other objects that could be used as missiles. Security zones have been set up around the palace and other prominent locations. Bars can sell beer only in plastic cups. The US State Department has told Americans in Brussels to be vigilant in the presence of the demonstrators and to avoid sites of demonstrations. Because Brussels is the EUs capital, Belgian police have unrivalled experience of dealing with demonstrations and officers are notoriously tough. They dress in black combat uniforms, ring targeted buildings with razor wire and military-style black vans and seldom hesitate to use teargas or water cannon. We hope it will be calm. The only unpredictable factor is groups from abroad, Els Cleemput, a police spokeswoman, said. As many as 25,000 protesters are expected from countries such as Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Switzerland. The anti-globalisation movement took off at the 1999 Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organisation, severely disrupted the EUs Gothenburg summit last June and reached the peak of its disruptive powers when 200,000 demonstrators caused mayhem at Julys Genoa G8 summit. One Italian was killed and 500 people were injured in riots around the besieged Italian port. The Internet-driven movement lost steam after the September 11 attacks, with fewer than 10,000 demonstrators turning out for the EUs summit in Ghent in October, but its leaders hope that Brussels will mark its resurgence as an international force. As many 80,000 protesters will take part in a march today organised by the European Trades Union Confederation, which represents 60 million workers in 34 countries. A more militant demonstration is expected tomorrow with a march on Laeken from a centre for asylum-seekers in central Brussels. The demonstrators numbers will be swelled by anti-war protesters and workers who have recently lost their jobs.
Japanese Devils/Riben Guizi (Dir. Minoru Matsui)
_Japanese Devils/Riben Guizi: Confessions of Imperial Army Soldiers from Japan's War against China_ (Dir. Minoru Matsui, 2000) at http://www.japanesedevils.com/. Mark Schilling, Face to Face with Imperial Evil, _Japan Times_ 5 December 2001 at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20011205a2.htm. Masato Kajimoto, The Nanking Atrocities (Nanjing Massacre) -- Online Documentary (August 2000) at http://www.missouri.edu/~jschool/nanking/. -- Yoshie * Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html * Anti-War Activist Resources: http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html * Student International Forum: http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/ * Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/
ny times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/11/science/life/11MIMI.html -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Phil Mirowski
- Original Message - From: michael perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 9:07 PM Subject: [PEN-L:20630] Phil Mirowski I regard Phil Mirowski as one of the most creative economists in the world outside of pen-l. I am waiting for his new book, Machine Dreams, to arrive in the mail. Here is a new article by him http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_12/mirowski/index.html I have not had time to read it, but if it is up to is usual standards, it should be very good. -- == And they wonder why Microsoft employees and profs. and grad students, along with all the other citizens from around the world shut down the WTO Ian
